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Stilgherrian Live Alpha: lessons from episode 2

17 May 2008 in Stilgherrian Live by Stilgherrian | 5 comments

I wish I had a screenshot to show you, but, as I mentioned before, episode 2 of Stilgherrian Live Alpha wasn’t recorded. It only lives on in the memories of the 20-odd people who watched it live — and then probably not for long.

What did we learn this time?

The key lesson is that it just isn’t possible to do everything on my old PowerBook G4. There ain’t enough processing power. And there isn’t quite the cashflow to organise my new Macbook Pro for a couple of weeks. That leaves me with an important decision: How do I shape this alpha series in the meantime?

The coming Geek Week will provide plenty of interesting interview opportunities. Perhaps I should get hold of a DV camera for a few days and record material for use over subsequent weeks? Does that defeat the “live” bit?

That said, anyone got a DV camera with Firewire output I can borrow for the week?

Should I do live reports directly from the conference venues, using simplified audio and video layers so my poor little ‘puter isn’t overloaded?

Ah questions, questions… and it’s Saturday. I have no answers.

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18 May 2008 at 12:46 pm

Bernard

or even better as far as the borrowing stakes go, has anyone got a macbook pro that u can borrow for a couple of weeks?

18 May 2008 at 2:51 pm

Stilgherrian

@bernard: The problem with “borrowing” a laptop is that it wouldn’t be set up with all my stuff, so I’d end up carrying two laptops some days. Not good. The alternative is moving all my stuff to that borrowed machine, then moving it back again, then moving it a third time to my actual new machine. Many hours, no benefit.

19 May 2008 at 9:24 am

Michael Meloni

I don’t think pre-recording material at these sorts of events is a problem. I loved the whole live aspect of last Thursdays show, but for broad coverage of one these events it’d be hard to pull off live content with only a 30 or so minute show. If you do manage it, I’ll be impressed. Of course, if you mean short 5 or 10 min live bursts online, then disregard what I said :)

19 May 2008 at 10:25 am

Stilgherrian

@Michael Meloni: I’ve just borrowed a friend’s Canon HV20 video camera to use for the week — severe overkill for what I need, but I’m not complaining. My plan is to record a few key items to drop into the program, with a live commentary woven around that.

I daresay I’ll end up with far more material than I can use immediately, but I’ll post everything online anyway.

19 May 2008 at 2:47 pm

Stephen Stockwell

@Stilgherrian: Please do!

If this week’s material is anywhere near as explosive as last week’s alleged PM, SEX, SEA CREATURES SHOCKAH!, then it’s not to be missed, come hell or high water. Fingers crossed you and the old G4 succeed in recording what promises to be a damning exposé.